, 1887-06-30
TUT EFFECTS OF COCA.
THAT STRANGE PRODUCT OF THE
FORESTS OF SOUTH AMERICA.

IntcrrstinE Report from San Salvador.
PoculinritIes of Chewing C~oca-Hygi-
enic Properties as Described by =
Spanish Physician.
Consul Du Pre- transmits from San Sal
vador an interesting report upon the use
OF coca in that country and its effects
upon the inhabitants. He says:
81 have seen so much recently written
of coca in newspapers and in medical pub
locations TINT am impelled to report what
| have learned of the virtues of this prod
uct of South American forests. With
leathern straps passing around their fore
heads to sustain burdens Of $50 or 200
pounds on their backs, l find these 1.-THE,
slender natives traversing plains and
mountains with greater celebrity than the
mule l bestride, which travels the live
long day six miles an hour. Native ply
sicians and those of the schools OF Paris,
Trance, oncur in assuring me that this
extraordinary capacity for endurance Of
toll and hunger is to be ascribed to the
use by these vingeros of coca. Recently
the medical profession in all countries has
been induced to study the strange and
unique properties and effects of coca. A
peculiar force, producing nervous insensi-
bility, distinguishes coca when used as an
allialoid.
sit is administered freely to infants,
and Is the chief intoxicant of men and
women. Youths through many days are
intrusted with the caro- Of valuable flocks
of namaS, having no other s~ustenance
than that to be found in little leathern
purses containing coca and its compounds.
Indians chew 1t constantly. Theirs, like
the maxillary movements of tobacco
chewers, are incessant. From thirty to
fifty grains are consumed daily, serving,
unlike tobacco, both us food and stimu-
liant. Without coca habitual chewers
anuot digest food; without it they are
unable to ascend mountains with long,
rapid strides the l~ivelong day. They will
not toll without it; without it they enjoy
nothing; without it, practically, they cease
to live.
EFFECT OF cHEwING COCA.
'"The immediate effect of chewing coca
is perfect insensibility of the interior Of
the mouth. The immediate sensation Is
that which one would experience when
finding that his mouth had become a great
void In somebody else's head. 1 had a
dentist apply it when extracting the roots
of n molar tooth, and the effect was as
described. Indians constantly using coca
finally lose the senses of taste and smell
They can eat without gnan most
disgusting food and drink most nauseating
~draughts. The sensitiveness of the mu-
cous membrane has been DESTROYED.
When one goes further and swallows the
saliva im%pregnated with the juice Of the
coca leaf n delicious sensation of warmth
and Of perfect blessedness entirely pervade
ones whole being, intellectual, nervous
and physical, and he is Tapped in the joys
of an elysium. In doses Of fifteen to sixty
grains coca produces delightful intoxica-
ton.
Its Joys transcend in perfect blessed
ness all known human delights. A sensa-
tion of lightness first superveues; the air
inhaled Is zephyrs from angels wings;
there are wild imaginings and fantastic
Authorizations and gorgeous visions, and
then complete insensibitity. 1t is intoxi-
cation without d~rowsiness, without con-
gestion of the brain, involving q sense OF
perfect rest. The law Of gravitation Is
suspended and the coquero drifts bodily
among the stars. Meanwhile tho muscu-
lar system is stimulated to an extraordi-
nary degree; an intellectual excitement
supervenes, enabling the possessed of
this demon to watch and toll through
sleepless days and nights. No dreadful
headache or more intolerable nervous
prostration follows.
A MOST TEN NERvINE.
at is the most potent nervine, almost,
ut mans disposal Its hygienic proper
ties are disclosed from its physiological
properties lays a Spanish NJ. D., who
ADDS hat in hot infusion it Is the one use
full and healthful beverage one can use
after dining. Especially Is it commended
to the feeble, to those who have tran
scendcd limits OF sobrietv in using
alcohol. Its virtues should be tested,
therefore, In fnebriate asylums. 1t surely
calmg nervous cXcitability of many, and,
taken in mall quantities, enables one to
endure cold end rain and snow, and it
enables ono to defy great fatigue and re-
stores the forces lost by excuses. 1t is
popularity used for indigestion, for dis
ordered stomachs, for hysteria, fatulency
and collie, and ell forms of intestinal dis
orders.
at is used constantly by toilers in
mines, end when ono reaches the mines
after marching several days through
forests end over mountains, sustained
alone by tho ESQ of coca and maize, he is
permitted to cat ct discretion through
four days end have perfect rest. Then he
is in perfect health and fresh end fat
says the writer cbovc quoted. 'Cocaismo'
-habitual ~intoxication by tho use of coca
more easily becomes hnbitu2l end In
durable tina alcoholism or cddictivencss
to opiates. Its consequences, however,
nre not yet wholly measured or compre-
hended, Excessive end constant use of
this %intoSicant begcts rapidly, moral and
intellectual degradation end decay, steady
decline is interrupted ut intervals by re-
s~istlcss impulses to do most violent and
brutal acts, The nature of the father, as
perverted by the drug, is transmitted to
the child, II the inveterate vice, operat-
ing through generations, is said to account
for the brutality Of races of Indians, and
Quichas and Almaras of Bolivian fast
nesses. Washington Letter.
Clara Morris Private Car.